Condemned Ohio killer sues to stop next execution

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The state's execution policy leaves open the chance an inmate could remain clinically alive even after being pronounced dead, attorneys said Thursday as they tried to stop a condemned killer from being put to death in March.

Inmates also run the risk of experiencing unnecessary pain by suffocation under the current execution policy, and Ohio is violating state and federal law by using lethal drugs without prescriptions to carry out capital punishment, the attorneys said in a federal court filing.

The attorneys want a federal judge to stop the March 19 execution of Gregory Lott and declare the state's new execution policy unconstitutional.

There is a substantial risk that Lott's "electrical cardiac activity and electrical brain activity will continue for as long as 45 minutes after breathing and heart sounds are undetected," federal public defenders Stephen Ferrell and Stephen Kissinger said in the filing.

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal challenges to Ohio's injection policy dating back years. It appears to be the first time attorneys have alleged inmates aren't dead despite a warden's declaration.

The lawsuit follows last week's execution of Dennis McGuire by the new two-drug method combining the sedative midazolam with the painkiller hydromorphone. Ohio adopted the system after supplies of its previous execution drug dried up.

McGuire, 53, was sentenced to death for raping and killing a pregnant newlywed in 1989. He repeatedly snorted, gasped and opened and shut his mouth as if yawning over several minutes, though he appeared unconscious the entire time. His 26-minute execution was the longest since Ohio resumed putting inmates to death in 1999.

The lawsuit alleges McGuire could have remained clinically alive 45 minutes after his official time of death.

McGuire's last perceived movement was at 10:43 a.m., and he was then motionless for 10 minutes before being declared dead at 10:53 a.m., according to observations by The Associated Press at the execution.

Lott was sentenced to die for killing 82-year-old John McGrath by setting him on fire in his East Cleveland home in 1986. McGrath died in the hospital 11 days after the fire.

Lott's attorneys allege because there is no prescription for any of the drugs called for by Ohio's policy, they can't be legally imported, distributed or dispensed by any pharmacist.

Lott, 51, was found guilty after a trial before a three-judge panel. He came within a few days of execution 10 years ago before the U.S. Supreme Court allowed him to pursue an innocence claim. Courts later upheld his sentence and set an execution date.

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Andrew Welsh-Huggins can be reached on Twitter at https://twitter.com/awhcolumbus